YPN Christmas Special 2021

While COVID-19 has been ever present for almost two years now, the spread of the new Omicron variant has brought the virus back to the top of the political agenda. As well as this reflecting on the latest COVID situation, our panel explores topics ranging from the outcome of COP26, global tax reform, what a new German Chancellor may mean for the future direction of the EU and, last but not least, the ongoing, never-ending negotiations on EU-UK relations and the future of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. About the Speakers: Shona Murray is Europe correspondent with Euronews. Previously she was Political Correspondent with the Irish Independent, and Foreign Affairs correspondent with Newstalk. She’s specialized in Brexit and has reported from dozens of countries such as Israel/Gaza, Iraq, Turkey/Syria border, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Haiti and Guantanamo Bay. She holds an M.Phil in International Peace and an LL.M in international law - both from Trinity College Dublin. She is alum of the US State Department Edward R. Murrow programme for journalists. Conor O’Neill is Head of Policy & Advocacy at Christian Aid Ireland, an international aid and development NGO based in Dublin and Belfast. He leads the organisation's work on climate change and economic justice, focusing on issues of human rights, corporate accountability, tax avoidance and inequality between the global North and South. He previously worked as a researcher and advisor in the Oireachtas, in the EU institutions and with a human rights NGO in Brussels. He has a BA and an MSc in Politics from Trinity College, Dublin. Aidan Regan is an Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin (UCD) and a Columnist with the Business Post. He is Director of UCD's Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in the New Political Economy of Europe, and Director of Graduate Master Studies at the School of Politics. Aidan completed his PhD in Public Policy at the College of Social Science at UCD, whilst also working at the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS), at the University of Amsterdam.